athletics

Sport

2022

We explain what athletics is and what are the disciplines that this famous sport covers. Also, what does the Olympic Games consist of?

Athletics finds its origin in the games that were held in Greece and Rome.

What is Athletics?

The word athletics comes from the Greek word athletesand has as meaning any individual who competes in order to obtain recognition.Known as the sport older, with a structure solid and organized, athletics consists of a set sports events based on races, jumps and throws.

Athletics finds its origin in the games that were held in public spaces in Greece and Rome. It is commonly said that athletics is the "natural sport" that implies the basics of human action in relation to what is necessary for the human development. That is, it refers to the human need to run, jump and throw, to exercise as part of the needs of our body.

Athletics gathers on the same stadium, as was done in ancient times, races and competitions divided according to type of exercise. Carrying out these athletic activities involves muscle exercise using mainly the force.

The main current tests are:

  • Races of different lengths,
  • Marathons that are measured according to the kilometers of the journey,
  • March,
  • Jumps in height, longitude and triple jump,
  • Weight, hammer, discus and javelin throws,
  • Decathlon and pentathlon, tests that combine different activities.

Disciplines of professional athletics

The javelin throw consists of throwing a javelin as far as possible.

The events that a professional athletics competition contains are:

  • Speed ​​races. They are one of the best known tests in athletics and have been found in all athletics competition since its inception. It consists of the route of a space that varies from 100 meters to 400 meters, in the smallest weather possible.
  • Long distance racing. Long-distance races are tests that consist of a distance course of more than 3,000 meters. A long distance runner must have well-developed capacities that allow him to possess endurance physical, fatigue resistance and pain resistance.
  • Middle distance racing. These races receive this name since the distance to be covered is at the intermediate point between sprinting and long-distance races. They consist of the route of a space with a distance of between 800 meters and 3000 meters.
  • Racing on roads or streets. They are not recognized as discipline at the Olympics or other competitions. It consists of the route of a certain distance outside the track or athletics stadium. Instead, its route is specified in routes, highways or streets of a town or town.
  • Off-road racing. Although at present it is not a test found in the Olympic Games, it was in previous editions. It consists of the journey of a distance within a natural circuit without urban features. There are individual or team modalities.
  • Hurdling. This test is attributed to the British and consists of jumping hurdles within a specified distance.
  • Backward race. Although it is not considered an Olympic sport, the practice of running in the opposite direction is lately exercised by many athletes.
  • Pole vault. Also known as pole vault, it is a sport that consists of going over a horizontal bar using a pole and the momentum obtained after traveling a distance of 30 meters.
  • Jump of length. The purpose of this discipline is to achieve the maximum distance after jumping over a horizontal space, through the momentum achieved by a certain route.
  • Throwing of weight. It consists of the launch of a ball by a competitor in order to achieve a maximum distance.
  • Discus throw. It consists of the launching of an object with a circular shape and pronounced weight towards a maximum distance.
  • Javelin throw. It is based on the throwing of a javelin made with authorized material as far as possible.

Olympic Games

Athletics is directly related to the establishment of the Olympic games, which constitute the largest sporting event in the world, which brings together the most outstanding athletes from around the world and takes place every four years in a city that makes the times of headquarters of the games.

The requirement for a discipline to become part of the set of tests of the Olympic games is that the discipline be practiced in the five continents. In this way, new disciplines are entering that in the origin of the games were not part, in the opposite case several athletic sports competitions have disappeared from these, such as Polo or Rugby.

The marathon is the legendary athletic event, and it recalls the feat achieved by a Greek runner who was sent from Marathon, the village of Attica, to the city of Athens in 490 BC. J. C. with the objective to announce the victory of the Athenians over the Persians. This discipline is the most representative icon of all the Olympic games.

The decathlon is a discipline that combines ten tests (four races, three jumps and three throws), although it is played in two consecutive days, it requires the athlete to develop at the same time abilities resistance, force, power and speed, it is understood with this that it is the most complete athletic discipline, and the toughest in terms of its level of demand. There is the heptathlon, which is the equivalent of the decathlon, but made up of female athletes. The classification of these two disciplines is according to the score that is accumulating as a result obtained by their performance in each of the activities, based on this a comparative table between the athletes is formed.

On the other hand there is the triathlon, which emerged in the mid-seventies in the United States, it is one of the variations that arise from the decathlon. However, the triathlon only consists of three activities, which can be the swimming, cycling and running, which are carried out consecutively, and without interruption. Its measurement system is also different in addition to the composition of the exercises it comprises, simply the principle of evaluation is the time in which the sum of the three activities are carried out; the athlete who performs them in the shortest time is the winner.

The registration of records in athletics is important since it allows the constant progress of athletes, allowing them to mark the goals to which the athlete aspires.

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